Rhapsody in teal

Morning everyone! Oh wait is it afternoon? Yikes!  Well I got up early but was SO waylaid today!  I got up at 6am.  Yep 6am on a day when I could sleep in. Now that I'm 50 I can't sleep in.  It just doesn't happen.  It could also be because of the jerk cats and chinchillas who share my room too LOL!  Mick St. John is the NAUGHTIEST chinchilla on the planet I swear!  The dude NEVER sleeps.  EVER.  He is UP ALL NIGHT!  Ah but I love him.  It's a good he's so cute I tell ya!

I did get up early this morning and really wanted to do something different for a change, but honestly I just kept drawing a blank.  I gradient all the time--I mean like all the time and I wanted to do something non gradient but as I was putting some polishes away I found 2 in my "blue" drawer right next to each other and I said oooh cool these would look so good as a gradient so BAM there went my whole I need to do something more than gradienting thoughts.

I'm not sure why I think I need to stop gradienting though.  This mani which is so simple, is so beautiful.  I love it.  One stamping color, one stamping image over a simple gradient--it's timeless and really gorgeous.

I just did a simple 2 color gradient using Revlon Fashionista and Rimmel Marine Blue 

I stamped using Milani White On The Spot and BM12

I really love all my Bundle Monster plates but I sure wish they would "redo" the first set to make the images larger!  

These single images are really lovely though and work fine

Here's a pic of the colors I used--Revlon Fashionista and Rimmel Marine Blue

All in all I'm really happy how this turned out and glad I did gradient instead of doing something else!

Thanks for stopping by!!! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Day 17 A New Technique To You

Hi Everyone!! Today is cool mani day!!!  I had been wanting to the do the reverse image technique for quite some time, and tried it once several months ago and it didn't work for me.  The other day in AIS someone posted a youtube tutorial and GENIUS it made the technique look so easy!  The day I got my Shany 2012 set I wanted to use the swan image but just hadn't.  For this technique I came up with a kickass gradient! Check it out!

I hauled out my Revlon Black Pearl and poor no name Hema 42 to do the gradient and mani.  I absolutely love it!

Look how "glowey" it is!!!

Okay so here's my reverse image stamping!

I know it's pretty simple but I just love it!

Even a shot of it in the shade looks good!

And how about that lovely Revlon Black Pearl????? It's a really pretty charcoal shimmer.

Now how did I do this??? Who is the genius behind the fabulous technique I followed????  You can see it HERE!!!!  If you're a stamper you HAVE to try this!!

I feel better after that horrid water color fail now that I've pulled this off!  Let's see if I can continue to feel better tomorrow

Your oldest untried--okay I have a few old untrieds so I'm sure I got this covered.

What technique did my other Tart's come up with???

What really is a girl's best friend?

Hi Everyone!  Happy hump day!  Today is day 26 in the 31 Day Challenge and the theme is inspired by a pattern.  I was really trying to rack my brain for a great pattern when it dawned on me--I STAMP!  Almost every design I wear is a pattern lol!  I've been lamenting all the plates I have which I haven't used so I hauled em out and looked through them to come up with an untried.  And since I went to the trouble of a stamping plate untried I decided to haul out a polish untried.  I snagged Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia which is the Lippmann Bad Romance dupe and honestly all I could think of was WHY HAVE I OWNED THIS FOR A YEAR AND NEVER WORN IT?

For today's theme of pattern I chose a diamond design over Facets of Fuchsia

I just love, love, LOVE how this turned out!

I did a layer of black, two coats of Facet of Fuchsia and then stamped using Peripera 044.  I love the Peripera polishes because they are opaque in a coat therefore perfect for stamping!

I chose the the diamond like image from Cheeky XL B.  I'm a huge fan of the Cheeky XL plates but the small round ones not so much.

You know what I wish?  To any indie polish makers out there reading this I'd love a color just like Facets with a sheer black base BUT with aqua, teal and gold diamond shape glitters in it! OMG can you image the perfection a mermaid tail mani would be if that polish existed????!!!!!!

We're nearly done with this challenge (thank God) so I wonder what's up for tomorrow?

Hmmm artwork that might really suck because I just can't draw!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

This ain't yo momma's water marble

Hi Readers!  I think we know from the spatter mani I'm not all about the 'usual' type colors.  I'm not a pastel person and not really a bright colors gal.  I love the deep, dark vampy colors especially for my nails.  Today I have a watermarble featuring those deep dark colors!

I started with a base of the lovely Devil's Lure by Revlon--it's a nice super dark and vampy red with a bit of buried shimmer to it

To marble I used the Devil's Lure, a gold unnamed Pure Ice that came with a crackle duo and OPI Brisbane Bronze.

Even though this is dark and bold, it's a subtle water marble effect.

I have to say I really love a shimmery water marble!

What do you think of this one Readers?? Is this one up your alley or do you prefer the lighter or brighter type water marbles?


Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday--Chalkboard Nails!

Hi Readers!  Many of you know I have a deep fondness for Sarah of Chalkboard Nails.  Even though I like to bust her hump about her big head the truth is, she is a super great gal and one of the nicest nail polish friends I have.  She's sickeningly talented UG!  She did this one awhile ago BUT she showed the pic to me before she blogged about it and I was IN LOVE with it!  I really wanted to  try it out myself BUT I didn't have the polishes to do it at the time.  Well guess what???!!! I didn't have this time around either so I had to improvise!  It's amazing the things you can do when you put your mind to it!  Here is my version of Sarah's Harlequin Nails

Instead of using the Spiderman Metallics as Sarah did I used Revlon Carbonite to replace Number One Nemesis and Revlon Black With Envy to replace Into The Night.  I was lucky enough to have OPI Just Spotted The Lizard.  I used OPI Alpine White as a base before I got to taping!

Look at the lovely that is Just Spotted The Lizard!!! GAH it's gorgeous!
I loved staring at in the shade but then look at it in the light!

Now shade again with the cool antique "slave" ring I bought awhile ago!

Man this is a GORGEOUS mani!!!

I got a bazillion compliments on this one too.  Sorry Sarah but I took ALL the credit!  When everyone asked where I got them done I simply smiled and said I did them myself.  Then their eyes goggled out of their heads as they looked at me in disbelief but yes this is my hobby and I am good at it lol!  I didn't tell them I totally stole the idea but I'm telling you.  I TOTALLY STOLE THIS IDEA FROM THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL SARAH!! Check out here original mani of it here.
Here's a nice side by side pic of mine and Sarah's

If you're not following her blog you should, she is AHmazing.  Don't tell her that though because I'm worried her head is going to get SO big she won't be able to get in and out of the door anymore!


Lots of my friends have joined in for Monkey See Monkey Do Monday!!!  I'm too lazy to re-up the current list lol, thankfully we have our Inlinkz code!!  Check out my partners in crime (and welcome new ones) in

What day is it????? SPLATURDAY!

Hi Readers!!!! Good news--my charger came just in time for SPLATURDAY!  My blogging and nail polish friends got together for another challenge today and splatter mani was picked.  Honestly I was not prepared for this one at all.  I really didn't think my charger would get her so I didn't practice nor did I even have a straw in the house!  I had to cut the tips off of a qtip and use it lol!  Let me tell you this I'm full of a hot air but trying to blow through this tiny tube was not easy!
I've seen some pretty cool splatter mani's out there and despite it getting warmer and starting to appear to be summer I didn't want to go the bright colors or neon route.  I'm a dark vampy girl at heart readers and this is what I came up with

The colors I chose are a base of China Glaze Below Deck--which I love, and then I splattered with China Glaze Trendsetter, Revlon Devil's Lure, and a dark grey franken I made with no name.  Poor no name!

I guess you could call this the pretty "ugly" colors mani lol!

Trendsetter is that "baby poo" yellow color that you're just not sure works as a whole mani but here I think it works great with the purple taupe of Below Deck and then the blood red of Devil's Lure and the deep grey of poor no name.  Maybe I should just name that Poor No Name lol!

This is my very first splatter!! I'm going to call it a success--what do you think Readers?


Make sure to check out all the other cool splatters for SPLATURDAY by my friends!

Thanks for stopping by!!!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

A funny thing happened on my way to the foil

Hi Readers!  Remember that huge foil haul I said I got in awhile ago?? No well I don't blame you!  I got a whole bunch of new foils in and haven't used a single one--okay that's a lie I've used one, the snakeskin one.  I decided I really needed to get to trying some of these so I put on some gold ones before I left to see The Lucky Ones with my sweet niece Alex.  If you haven't seen it Readers it's very good.  And being the romance reader aficionado that I am believe me when I say it's a lovely romance.  I'm not a huge Nicolas Sparks fan either--I tend to like my books written by woman, but honestly good movie and yes quite the bawl fest!
ANYWAY before leaving for the movie I did the dishes DUMB MOVE!  I didn't topcoat the foils and the tips looked like hell--yes you heard me like hell!  UG instead of taking something off I hadn't even worn a full day I got an idea!  I've been wanting to practice some different water marble designs so I decided to just water marble over the foils.  And here's what happened!

Ooooh la la!! These are now looking much better!  Here's something I learned about foils and if you look close you can see what I'm talking about.  After getting home from the movie I DID topcoat them hoping the worn tips wouldn't bother me.  When I marbled I didn't like the design on the ring finger so I decided to just foil over it.  The ring finger doesn't have any topcoat on before I marbled it a 2nd time and it's CLEARLY more holographic than the others.  So going forward I'm going to try to use a super thin water marble of just clear over my next holographic foiling and see if I can keep that prismatic rainbow shine!

Are you in as much awe as I was when first looking at this???

To achieve this cool look I used a sheer pink from Revlon along with Revlon's Devil's Lure.  I pretty much love the hell out of Devil's Lure lol!

As you can see some of this marble was clear with the dark blood red and some of it tinged pink like in the pinkie--ahahah pink in the pinkie! omg I KILL ME! LOL!  Jeez everyone is a comedian these days I guess.  But even with some of the pink tinge with the red I think looks really awesome over these gold foils.


I'm thinking of doing a whole week of foils what do you think?  You can do so much with them--leave them alone, stamp over them, marble over them, crackle over them the possibilities are endless!


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

I cried a thousand tears!

Dear Green Bay Packers where the H were you today????? SERIOUSLY!  Hi Readers as you can see my heart is broken over the devastating loss to the Giants yesterday!! I mean Eli Manning and The Giants are you kidding me???!  UG!
I started off with a great mani in my opinion, a nice forest green and a metallic yellow but I guess me doing my part with an incredible mani wasn't enough for them.
Here it is readers you be the judge!

Here it is with flash

Close up!

To get this look I painted my nails with Revlon Emerald City which is a matte but is such a rich green when you put a topcoat on it!  I stamped with Shany plate SH22 using Kleancolor Metallic Yellow and man it's a simple yet pretty mani.


Even though the Packers lost the game yesterday they had a fantastic season! Records were broken this year.  Donald Driver (my favorite Packer) became the all time receiver for the Packers when he surpassed James Lofton's career yards of 9,656.  Also this year Aaron Rogers became the first quarterback in NFL history to have 400 yards passing, 4 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns in one game which was against the Broncos on October 2nd. All that talk of Brett Favre died down rather quickly when the very humble Aaron Rogers stepped in to lead the team.  All in all it was a fantastic season and I look forward to next year!


How about you readers?  Are you football fans?  Who's your team?  Did you play fantasy football this year?  I did and I had a blast and can't wait til next year!!


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!